Crowding into the Norris Theatre on May 14, 2014, hundreds of excited video game enthusiasts came to see this year’s projects at the highly anticipated Demo Day, the culmination of the USC Games program. USC Games, a collaboration between the School of Cinematic Arts and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, pairs interactive media students with computer scientists to create fully functioning video games over the course of the academic year. Demo Day is well attended by video game industry leaders eager to capture the graduating talent from this No. 1 ranked video game design program.
“I'm incredibly impressed with the games the students have designed and built,” said Professor Gaurav Sukhatme, Chair of the Computer Science Department in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. “They are ready to lead the way and bring their innovations to the Games industry and the world."
This year’s games span a range of types of gameplay and scope. In one game, Bloom, players take on the role of Sprout to heal the world taken over by evil robots. Another game, Social Clues, teaches children with autism how to effectively communicate with peers.
See the video game trailers for all this year’s USC Games:
Bloom is an adventure platformer where you play as a seedling named Sprout who wields the powers of nature in order to reclaim earth from the dangerous machines who have taken over.
Maestros is an upcoming real-time strategy game set in a humorous fantasy world where you control an army of minions and critters that can transform on the fly.
Social Clues is a puzzle-adventure game for children with autism and developmental disabilities that teaches pragmatics and social skills. Players control Pete and Kate Mum as they traverse a stylized, cartoon world to search for their lost toys.
Miralab is a 3D puzzle game about discovering a beautiful underwater world as an immortal jellyfish. Solve the mysteries of this evocative ecosystem as you shift through the unique lifecycle stages of this fascinating creature. Unlock memories of your jellyfish clones as you build up your immortal palace.
Rhea is a first-person virtual reality game in which players harness a powerful form of flight to explore a mysterious and gradually deteriorating open world.
Cole, a game about an alien slave shoveling coal into a furnace, lets players "experience the tedium of servitude like never before!"
Fat Loot is a player vs. player stealth-action brawler, in which you control a wacky thief master breaking into an ancient Chinese palace in an attempt to pull the ultimate heist.
